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Nets waive Justin Harper and Dahntay Jones; Roster now sits at 15 players

By Tom Lorenzo
Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

So, in the end, there were no surprises

The Brooklyn Nets announced that they waived both Justin Harper and Dahntay Jones Monday afternoon, putting their roster at 15 players. That means, they do not have to cut anyone else, which in turn means that Donald Sloan and Willie Reed are, as of now, currently, on the 15-man roster.

Sloan now becomes the team's third point guard, behind Jarrett Jack and Shane Larkin, while Reed helps add size to a team that lacks it, though he did just recently have surgery on his thumb and is out for another five to seven weeks. It may very well be that Andrea Bargnani's ability to practice over the last four days helped the front office decide it could wait on Reed ... and Chris McCullough, who won't play until at least January

Also, if the Nets had decided to eat Reed's $500,000 guarantee and replace him with Harper they would have had less of a salary cap cushion. By dumping two players with no significant guarantee, they are about $1.5 million above the luxury tax threshold. If they had gone the other route, signing Harper, the cushion would have been less than $1 million.  This is the third time Reed has made an NBA roster, being called up by the Grizzlies and Kings in the past. He has yet to play an NBA minute however.

Still, despite everything, Reed was excited.

Some thought that Jones would have a shot at making the roster due to his on-ball defense and what he brings to the team in terms of leadership, not to mention a long-term relationship with the coach. Others looked at Harper as an option due to his size and the depth he could provide as an additional big. He was also the only Net to play in all six games and shot 47 percent from deep.

On both, via the Nets:

Harper (6’10", 225), who signed with Brooklyn on September 18, appeared in six preseason contests with averages of 9.0 points, and 4.7 rebounds in 19.1 minutes per game.

Jones (6’6", 215), who signed with Brooklyn on September 10, averaged 7.5 points and 2.0 rebounds in four preseason games.

On the financials, by not cutting the two non-guaranteed deals until Monday, the Nets incurred a small cap hit.

Bottom line: Again, the team's roster is currently at 15 players, so the Nets don't have to make any additional cuts.

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